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Giacomo Meyerbeer - Il crociato in Egitto - "Ah! questo e l'ultimo" - No. 2. Stretta

3,044 views · Published 9 November 2008 · 4:02 · Indexed 20 September 2026

Channel: LindoroRossini · 2008 · Music

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It is sometimes said that any good opera must have a drinking song and a prayer. Where as Meyerbeer's grand opera, "Il crociato" has no example of the former, it actually has not one, but three full prayers: I've already posted the piece that appears in Adriano's superb scena; the second one comes in the form of a short cavatina for Armando, near the ending of the opera; and the last one forms the cantabile of a lengthy quartet/sextet from Act Two. 

Here is the main cast:

Ian Platt - Aladino,
Bruce Ford - Adriano di Monfort,
Diana Montague - Armando d'Orville,
Yvonne Kenny - Palmide,
Della Jones - Felicia,
Ugo Benelli - Osmino.

The final stretta could probably be called vintage Meyerbeer, building up excitement with each passing moment. Starting up with three separate verses for Palmide, Armando and Adriano, changed to suit the particular merits of each singer. The tempo di mezzo is formed with a repeat of the chorus already sung in the previous section. The repeat of the "cabaletta" is formed by a combination of the lines of all six protagonists finished with a long coda filled with coloratura leaps for all women and, finally, leading to a tremendous vocal explosing to leave the audience at the tip of their seats.

Hope you'll enjoy :)!

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